Fletcher’s Fine Foods is taking a $6.8 million restructuring charge against its earnings for the fourth quarter of the 1999-2000 fiscal year.
The Vancouver-based food processor, which operates plants in Western Canada, Ontario and the United States, was to announce its fourth quarter and year-end results March 29.
The restructuring charge, which works out to 54 cents per share, reflects costs associated with a number of changes designed to streamline and consolidate operations.
“These initiatives will significantly improve the competitiveness of our company by consolidating our production into fewer, more efficient plants,” said company president Fred Knoedler.
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In October, Fletcher’s reported a net earning for the first three quarters of just over $2 million, or 27 cents a share, on sales of $331.2 million.
Saskatchewan Wheat Pool owns 44 percent of Fletcher’s.
On the drawing board
The restructuring changes include:
- Shutting down a prepared salad plant in Portland, Oregon, last November, and consolidating that business in Washington state.
- Closing two meat processing facilities in Washington and Oregon in March and consolidating their operations in a new plant in Algona, Wash.
- Restructuring the company’s Grimm’s, Harvest and Canadian Prepared Foods distribution and warehousing for Western Canada.
Chief financial officer George
Paleologou said those changes should provide immediate annual pre-tax benefits in the range of $2.5 to $3 million.
The company last week also announced it will raise between $12 and $15 million from the sale of shares in its subsidiary company McSweeney’s Plus Distribution Ltd., Canada’s leading convenience store supplier.
In addition, McSweeney’s has recently acquired ownership of Lester’s Premium Foods, which owns home delivery food company Schwan’s Canada.
